Aurora grapplers power to 3-0 start

AURORA — For the first time in years, the Aurora wrestling team opened its season with dual meets instead of a tournament, which even Greenmen head coach Johnny Papesh admitted was weird.

Regardless of the weirdness, Aurora opened its season with a good start Saturday at the Aurora Duals.

The Greenmen opened with a 62-18 win over Madison, followed by a 54-23 win over North Royalton and beat Parma Padua Franciscan 51-24. Padua defeated Madison 48-27 and North Royalton 39-31, while North Royalton beat Madison 46-20 in the days’ other matches.

With most of his team out of its regular weight class, Papesh wasn’t looking for perfection.

"It was a pretty solid start," he said. "I told the kids, I’m not worried about wins and losses. All I want is 100-percent effort. I feel like we got 100-percent effort. Even the kids that went 0-3 went out there and battled."

Aurora had plenty of triple winners at the duals, but Papesh made clear his wrestler of the week was senior 182-pounder Ryan Scantland. Scantland pinned Madison’s Clay Smith in 3 minutes, 47 seconds and got a forfeit win against North Royalton.

However, the match of the day pitted Scantland against Padua state qualifier Matt Abraham. Abraham took a 1-0 lead, but Scantland reversed Abraham onto his back and then got a takedown in the last 10 seconds to secure a 6-3 win.

"I’ve never beaten a state-ranked kid before this year," Scantland said. "I was definitely nervous heading into the match. I had to put on a show for my dad, because he’s a little sick."

"It’s been a long time coming for Ryan," Papesh said. "Ryan battled his heart out in that match."

Papesh also singled out 113-pounder Ben Rogge for praise, as Rogge went 3-0 (two decisions and a pin) despite being physically ill during his matches.

"I told him to go to that dark place and just pull it out," Papesh said. "Rogge was a road warrior."

After being riddled with injuries last year, 145-pounder Andy Garr picked up two pins and a technical fall at the duals.

"Andy Garr is Andy Garr," Papesh said. "As I said before, a healthy Andy Garr is a scary thing for anyone in the states."